Historic landfill sites in Rishton, Lancashire
The Environment Agency records 19 historic landfill sites in and around Rishton, Lancashire. covering roughly 57 hectares in total. The largest is Land at Higher Whitebirk at 7.82 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to special (hazardous) waste. Data: October 2025 revision.
Recorded landfill boundaries around Rishton (indicative, digitised at 1:10,000).
All recorded sites, largest first
| Site | Area | Last input | Waste types |
|---|---|---|---|
| Land at Higher Whitebirk | 7.82 ha | 1984 | Inert |
| Former Coal Stocking Yard | 7 ha | 1983 | Inert |
| Cuncliffe Quarry | 6.67 ha | 1977 | IndustrialHouseholdInert |
| Lower Side Beet Farm | 6.2 ha | 1990 | SpecialIndustrialCommercialInert |
| Rishton Railway Cutting | 5.33 ha | 1989 | HouseholdInert |
| Rishton Railway Cutting | 5.08 ha | 1989 | IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert |
| Norden Tip | 3.81 ha | — | IndustrialCommercialInert |
| Close Brow Quarry | 3.52 ha | — | IndustrialInert |
| Lower Side Beet Farm | 2.64 ha | 1982 | Inert |
| Abbott Clough | 2.03 ha | — | Household |
| Accrington Road | 1.77 ha | 1976 | Waste types not recorded |
| Lower Side Beet Farm | 1.46 ha | 1994 | IndustrialCommercialInert |
| Lower Side Beet Farm - Moorcroft | 1.09 ha | 1994 | SpecialInert |
| Shaw Brook | 1.05 ha | — | Inert |
| Knuzden Brook | 0.6 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| North east side of Road | 0.31 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Cunliffe Quarry | 0.29 ha | — | IndustrialCommercial |
| Peronne Crescent | 0.2 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Lower Sidebeet Farm | 0.19 ha | 1990 | Inert |
What this data does — and doesn't — cover
- Licensed-era records only. Waste licensing began in 1974. Older tips — especially small pre-war ones — are incompletely recorded, so absence from this data does not mean no landfill ever existed here.
- Not the contaminated-land register. Councils hold a separate register of land determined as contaminated. A historic landfill entry is not a contamination determination, and vice versa.
- Boundaries are indicative. Digitised at 1:10,000 scale; some are buffers around a point rather than surveyed edges.
- Not a substitute for a formal environmental search. If you're buying, your conveyancer's environmental search checks this and several other sources.
EA Historic Landfill dataset, October 2025 revision. More on the methodology page.
Common questions
- How many former landfill sites are there in Rishton?
- 19 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of Rishton town centre in the Environment Agency's Historic Landfill dataset (October 2025 revision). Pre-1974 sites are incompletely recorded, so the true historical number is likely higher.
- How do I check a specific address in Rishton?
- Search the postcode on Landfill Check — you'll see every recorded site within 1km, with distance, direction and waste types, measured to the site boundary.
Nearby areas
Worth reading: buying a house near a former landfill and what the waste types mean.